The March 26, 2013 release date of BioShock Infinite is fast approaching, and developer Irrational is further teasing fans with another look at the game's dark and mysterious storyline. The trailer - titled "Lamb of Columbia" - shows off a great deal more action than most of the trailers before it, and also offers a glimpse into parts of Columbia that we haven't yet seen.

One of the more interesting vistas shown off in the new video is what appears to be a testing lab, complete with creepy experimentation equipment and, of course, giant bolts of electricity. We also get a new glimpse at the robotic Songbird in action as it deftly maneuvers about the floating platforms of Columbia.

A bit of story teasing also occurs, with lead man Booker DeWitt referencing a "deal" with Zachary Comstock, the apparent vilain and self-proclaimed prophet of the city. Oh, and there's a massive, Wizard of Oz-esque tornado, too.

Zombie Sodomy:Do i need to have played the other BioShock games to get the story? Yes, I know I'm a terrible person, and yes I'll get to them when I have time, but for now ... well?

From what I've seen/played, you'll do just fine with the game without having played the other two. It takes place in a completely different setting. There's a few nice touches that nod back to people who have played the original games, but nothing that will make your experience any less enjoyable if you haven't played them.

Zombie Sodomy:Do i need to have played the other BioShock games to get the story? Yes, I know I'm a terrible person, and yes I'll get to them when I have time, but for now ... well?

I'd imagine "no" because there seems to be no connection at all to the previous storylines or Rapture. Indeed they seemed to have made a big deal about having pretty much started a whole new setting and lore.

THAT said, I've personally felt they should not have used the "Bioshock" name on this one, and are only doing so because of the name recognition and the reaction to the first ones.

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I'll also say that as time goes on and we see more reveals, it seems progressively more likely that the rumors about the game pretty much ripping off Dean Koontz (the story "Watchers" if I remember) are likely, even if I suppose the twist wasn't new even there (being vaguely similar to what they did at the end of "The Ring").

The basic premise of the story in question being that there is a cult of religious psychopaths out to kill a little kid who is basically supposed to turn into "The Evil One" (Anti-Christ, Damien, etc... you know the drill). The entire thing revolving around his mother and a token tough guy fighting off this cult and escaping... with the twist at the end being that The Cult was not crazy, and they were right all along (and now everyone is pretty much F@cked). Sort of like how you find out at the end of "The Ring" that the little girl was not a vengeful ghost so much as she was pure evil, and dumping her into the well was the right thing to do, and oh hey... they let her go.

This could of course still all be wrong, but it does increasingly seem like it might be moving in that direction. I doubt it will be exactly the same thing, but I'm already beginning to think that the finale is likely to be a situation where Booker succeeds, and at least one ending is going to have that girl pretty much wrecking the world (or setting out to do so), with the initial bad guy, buck like the one in the original Bioshock, actually turning out to not be all that bad and actually right about... a lot of things...

That said someone should probably ask 2k "Would you kindly get this game out already?" :)

This is the first game I have really looked forward to for quite some time. I really hope it lives up to the hype. There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic about such as the fact they cut multiplayer because they couldn't make it fit rather than tacking it on anyway. Plus the inclusion of an extra difficulty level that's more like a "classic" shooter.

Here is hoping that the development problems don't affect the games quality.

Zombie Sodomy:Do i need to have played the other BioShock games to get the story? Yes, I know I'm a terrible person, and yes I'll get to them when I have time, but for now ... well?

They have said that the games are linked, but I don't think they mean in the sense of the games stories so much as that they are set in the same "world".

Like how Fallout 3 and New Vegas are, or Dragon Age 1 and 2. Playing all of them will mean you get more out of them, but you won't be left confused if you haven't.

Zombie Sodomy:Do i need to have played the other BioShock games to get the story? Yes, I know I'm a terrible person, and yes I'll get to them when I have time, but for now ... well?

I'd imagine "no" because there seems to be no connection at all to the previous storylines or Rapture. Indeed they seemed to have made a big deal about having pretty much started a whole new setting and lore.

THAT said, I've personally felt they should not have used the "Bioshock" name on this one, and are only doing so because of the name recognition and the reaction to the first ones.

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I'll also say that as time goes on and we see more reveals, it seems progressively more likely that the rumors about the game pretty much ripping off Dean Koontz (the story "Watchers" if I remember) are likely, even if I suppose the twist wasn't new even there (being vaguely similar to what they did at the end of "The Ring").

The basic premise of the story in question being that there is a cult of religious psychopaths out to kill a little kid who is basically supposed to turn into "The Evil One" (Anti-Christ, Damien, etc... you know the drill). The entire thing revolving around his mother and a token tough guy fighting off this cult and escaping... with the twist at the end being that The Cult was not crazy, and they were right all along (and now everyone is pretty much F@cked). Sort of like how you find out at the end of "The Ring" that the little girl was not a vengeful ghost so much as she was pure evil, and dumping her into the well was the right thing to do, and oh hey... they let her go.

This could of course still all be wrong, but it does increasingly seem like it might be moving in that direction. I doubt it will be exactly the same thing, but I'm already beginning to think that the finale is likely to be a situation where Booker succeeds, and at least one ending is going to have that girl pretty much wrecking the world (or setting out to do so), with the initial bad guy, buck like the one in the original Bioshock, actually turning out to not be all that bad and actually right about... a lot of things...

That said someone should probably ask 2k "Would you kindly get this game out already?" :)

While I generally enjoy twists where the bad guys turn out to be right all along. I don't know if that would be good here, nor would it be setting a good precedent. Comstock is a Christian Fundamentalist cult leader who gets his cult to follow him into a floating city, where he himself is worshiped, along with the perversion of 3 of the founding fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin) as angelic deified figures. They refer to everything below the city (so basically the whole world) as "Sodom". That is quite scary. But ultimately Irrational holds the writing quill, not me. We'll just have to see what happens.

If I know anything about Levine though, he is far from predictable. I personally think the ending will have something to do with using Elizabeth's powers to the effect of Time Travel, or where she supercharges the weapons of Columbia to be used to "drown in flame the mountains of man".

I just can't wait to get on some Skylines and roam around some really large areas. The whole city in the sky things has a lot of potential for setting up memorable locations, and the 1999 mode that will supposedly make the difficulty like system shock 2... that will keep me playing for a long time.

While I generally enjoy twists where the bad guys turn out to be right all along. I don't know if that would be good here, nor would it be setting a good precedent. Comstock is a Christian Fundamentalist cult leader who gets his cult to follow him into a floating city, where he himself is worshiped, along with the perversion of 3 of the founding fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin) as angelic deified figures. They refer to everything below the city (so basically the whole world) as "Sodom". That is quite scary. But ultimately Irrational holds the writing quill, not me. We'll just have to see what happens.

If I know anything about Levine though, he is far from predictable. I personally think the ending will have something to do with using Elizabeth's powers to the effect of Time Travel, or where she supercharges the weapons of Columbia to be used to "drown in flame the mountains of man".

I just can't wait to get on some Skylines and roam around some really large areas. The whole city in the sky things has a lot of potential for setting up memorable locations, and the 1999 mode that will supposedly make the difficulty like system shock 2... that will keep me playing for a long time.

It's all speculation at this point, based on some early rumors. Incidently, being right about something doesn't mean your right about everything, and if the guy wasn't presented in a negative light with a lot of bad features, you wouldn't be willing to treat him as the bad guy and perform your ill advised rescue. If the guy was a kind and gentle spiritual leader, and the girl your rescueing had her head spinning around as she spider walked everywhere and vomited pea soup, it wouldn't be much of a twist ending. Hence why I mentioned "Watchers" the christian guys in that were a group of complete jerks, and the story was written so you were cheering for the apparent good guys, that the bad guys were 100% correct in their central beliefs was the big twist at the end. Likewise the other, less appropriate example I used "The Ring" wouldn't have worked quite as well if you weren't lead to believe that you were dealing with a somewhat sympathetic, vengeful spirit, as opposed to pure evil that was imprisoned and trying to escape.

Just my thoughts on the subject, and it's not something I'm totally invested in believing, just that it seems like it might be going in that direction.

To put things into perspective, this would ultimatly be something of a re-tread of Bioshock as well, which is also why they might not do it again. To put it bluntly Ryan was kind of a jerk on a lot of levels, but through the entire game your lead to believe he was some kind of insane maniac whose plans fell apart. It's not until you confront him you realize that he might not be the nicest guy in the world, but he's also not all THAT bad, and close to being a good guy from a certain perspective, especially when you realize who the real bad guy is, and the exact role you play in the entire thing, which also explains why he's been acting the way he has towards you, as opposed to inviting you up for a spot of tea while you discussed how to try and save the city from the actual bad guy.

Zombie Sodomy:Do i need to have played the other BioShock games to get the story? Yes, I know I'm a terrible person, and yes I'll get to them when I have time, but for now ... well?

I'd imagine "no" because there seems to be no connection at all to the previous storylines or Rapture. Indeed they seemed to have made a big deal about having pretty much started a whole new setting and lore.

THAT said, I've personally felt they should not have used the "Bioshock" name on this one, and are only doing so because of the name recognition and the reaction to the first ones.

There's obviously a thematic overlap and an even greater mechanical one. That's plenty of reason to give it the same name.

Okay, so, let's see what Bioshock Infinite has going for it this far.-Steampunk setting-Female in need of rescuing as main plot-Supernatural powers-One or more supernatural demonic entities-Fighting against law enforcement-First person-Grizzled badass lead dude with training as some sort of government assassin

EDIT: Well, some diligent people with sharp minds and good points have pointed out that my comparison is kind of unreasonable. Looking over it again, I see that now. So..sorry about that. I was wrong and talking out my ass. Apologies to all.

Mr.Squishy:Okay, so, let's see what Bioshock Infinite has going for it this far.-Steampunk setting-Female in need of rescuing as main plot-Supernatural powers-One or more supernatural demonic entities-Fighting against law enforcement-First person-Grizzled badass lead dude with training as some sort of government assassin

- We need more of the Steampunk setting, so that's not a bad similarity.- Emily and Elizabeth aren't even in the same category as character types, one is supporting, and one is a main character (at this point its pretty obvious that this is anything but a "rescue" mission)- Vigors/ Plasmids, some sort of genetic mutation, not really "supernatural" hence the name "Bio"shock- Not even a similarity tied to both of these games alone- Fighting against law enforcement and rebels- Just don't- Not an assassin, just a retired pinkerton agent. So more like a grizzled hired pmc/government goomba

So no it doesn't just sound like Dishonored, does it? Even if you want to play it like that, this does what Dishonored tried to copy, but better

Well, that was multiple flavours of awesome. You've made your case , game. You can come out now please.

Looking forward to seeing Elizabeth is capable of. In the other previews and such her abilities were interesting and potentially freaky, but generally benign. This trailer is clearly suggesting that, with a bit of motivation, she might just end up ruining everyone's day. That last image didn't exactly suggest that she was out to give the world a great big-bosomed hug. Perhaps she finally gets to see the world, decides that she doesn't much like it and then realises that she can actually do something about it.

Mr.Squishy:Okay, so, let's see what Bioshock Infinite has going for it this far.-Steampunk setting

One is early 20th century fantasy with a heavy dash of alternate history, but still set in our world. The other is a fantasy world entirely of its own that bears some resemblance to 18th century Europe, if Europe was an archipelago. They're quite different.

-Female in need of rescuing as main plot

It seems pretty clear at this point that Elizabeth's rescue is not the main plot. It happens early on and is what kicks off the main plot. Also, beyond being female and getting rescued at some point, I'm struggling to see much similarity between a child empress and a young woman 'specimen' capable of trans-dimensional magical shenanigans.

-Supernatural powers

Like in every fantasy game ever you mean? Man, you know what this reminds me of? Prince of Persia! Cause, y'know, supernatural powers and all.

-One or more supernatural demonic entities

What's the demonic entity in Infinite?

-Fighting against law enforcement

Just like Grand Theft Auto. right? Anyway, you also fight the rebels, the Vox Populi. Also, robots and ghosts and whatnot.

-First person

Oh my God, first person! It's just like Halo!

-Grizzled badass lead dude with training as some sort of government assassin

Corvo was a royal bodyguard. Booker is an ex-Pinkerton agent. Leeeeedle bit different.

Mr.Squishy:Okay, so, let's see what Bioshock Infinite has going for it this far.-Steampunk setting-Female in need of rescuing as main plot-Supernatural powers-One or more supernatural demonic entities-Fighting against law enforcement-First person-Grizzled badass lead dude with training as some sort of government assassin

Ohhh man, it's really going to suck when I'm in that period when the game is finally out but my computer's too shitty to run it, so I end up having to avoid anything anybody ever says about it so I don't get spoilers.

I really hope this game is every bit as awesome as it looks. Elizabeth is looking like an excellent character and I'm glad to hear the player character has a voice and personality. This is one of the few games in a long time that I was looking forward to, the other being Aliens: Colonial Marines.

I really REALLY hope that I'm going to be able to enjoy Bioshock: Infinite. Honestly, I understand why the original Bioshock received as much acclaim as it did, but from a purely mechanical standpoint... I couldn't get into it. I don't know why, but right from the start it just felt wrong for some reason. Loved the setting, loved the story, just couldn't get into the gameplay.

From footage I've watched, Infinite seems to have a different feel to the gameplay though, so hopefully I'll like it much better than the original Bioshock.

I know you are all excited for this game. However, you must realize that irrational games has filmed their trailers and demos with a completely different game engine. I have obtained actual gameplay footage from the product that will ship on 26 march.

That's it I'm buying this game now. I already had my interest piqued when I heard it was based around America in the early 1900s--what with all the Xenophobia and Isolationism--which is probably my favorite era in American history to study.

They're luring me with nice guitar riffs and anti-theocratic sentiments. I'm still very curious what Elizabeth's reality altering powers are all about. Also... did she just smash a statue in the crotch with a lead pipe...?

*seizure*I want this so hard right now!By the way, does anyone know the name of the first song used in the trailer? I know the 2nd is Save My Soul by Blues Saraceno already, but there's light guitar riffs near the beginning of the trailer that sounds really good. I'd kill to have the name of the song. Please?EDIT: Also, I want to go play Bastion after listening to the music of this trailer. xD

I liked the trailer, although it puts it in kind of an opposite feel of what the other trailers did. This is more action-movie hollywood style, while the others were focused on the world itself, so this puts me off a bit.